I am Polish, my wife is Taiwanese. I have a JFRV. Me and my wife both got an offer to work in mainland China. She can easily get a 2 years visa upon arrival as long as she has her taiwanese passport. But me, am I still a foreigner in China with no rights and I need to go through all of that bureaucracy to obtain a working visa? Or does my JFRV give me any benefits on living and working in mainland China?
Your wife - like all Taiwanese - is not a foreigner in Mainland China, she does not receive a visa. This is a very important distinction.
Your JFRV will not give you any benefits in Mainland China. What fives you benefits is the fact that you are married to a Chinese citizen. While your wife resides in Mainland China you can receive a spouse visa for Mainland China. That is a more privileged position than other foreigners.
Are you sure about this? Taiwanese are not mainland citizens.
According to Nationality Law of the PRC Taiwanese are Citizens of the PRC.
Taiwanese with residence in Mainland China can sponsor their foreign spouse for a spouse visa just like any other Chinese in Mainland China. All they need is a Taibaozheng for the duration of stay with a registered address.
Taiwanese citizens do not automatically have rights in China. 2 years ago when my wife and I had to change planes in China (never actually leaving the airport) the airline at first told her she couldnât board as she didnât have a permit for China, and it was only after a long argument and a threat to sue to airline staff, that they let her on. Then while trying to change planes, they wouldnât let her walk from one side of the terminal to the other without applying and paying for a temporary permit, with can only be paid in RMB and naturally they had no currency exchange counters. So we had to ask random people in the airport if they could change USD into RMB for us.
So, hsin hai 78, I call BS on your claim that Taiwanese are not foreigners in China, and are actually citizens. Theyâre not.
The PRC does not accept Taiwan-issued passports as valid travel documents. Hence Taiwanese need to submit their Household Registration Transcript and a copy of their ID card to receive either a Taibaozheng or LĂŒxingzheng. These two documents are only issued to Chinese citizens and in fact the second page of a LĂŒxingzheng (a document for Chinese, incl. Taiwanese who reside overseas) states âThe bearer of this permit is a Citizen of the Peopleâs Republic of Chinaâ.
Again, same problem as above. People may not enter or transfer the PRC without valid (in the eyes of the PRC) travel documents. Just because jurisdictions like Hong Kong or Bangkok permit transfer without immigration control, does not mean other jurisdictions such as Mainland China or the USA need to do the same. Do your homework before you travel.
I think I have proven you wrong. Your wife lacked the proper travel documents and that is where your problems came from.
A Chinese citizen doesnât need those documents, a Taiwanese citizen does. Therefore they are not the same.
Of course a Mainland Chinese citizen needs a valid travel document to enter China. Or have you seen Mainland Chinese people just saying âNihao!â at the passport control and been let through?
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But we werenât entering China.
And my wife is not a citizen of China, sheâs a citizen of Taiwan.
You donât seem to understand it:
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The PRC requires anyone entering or transiting its territory to have a valid travel document. What constitutes a âvalid travel documentâ is decided by the PRC under its own laws. Under PRC law a passport issued by the authorities on Taiwan is not valid travel document.
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Under the PRC Nationality Law Taiwanese are PRC citizens. It matters absolutely nothing if you consider your wife a âTaiwanese citizenâ - a term that carries no legal weight under the domestic law of the PRC.
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As PRC Citizens Taiwanese receive their valid travel document from PRC authorities in the form of a) Taibaozheng b) LĂŒxingzheng c) Passport. Although receiving the latter makes no sense in terms of visa freedom and results in revocation of household registration in the Taiwan Area.
So you agree that a Taiwanese citizen does need to apply for a visa / permit to be in China? Good, that was my whole point. They are treated differently people from the PRC. Hence your statement
is wrong, or at best misleading.
A citizen of Taiwan does not have the necessary requirements / documents / permits until after they apply, unlike someone in China.
You still fail to understand the important distinction. A visa is affixed to a valid travel document to allow the bearer of that document - generally a foreigner - to enter.
Taiwanese lack a valid travel document to begin with unless they receive one from the PRC. Once they have a valid PRC issued travel document they can enter, remain and engage in work or study in Mainland China at their liberty as any other Chinese citizen with residence in Mainland China.
Therefore I added that OPs wife needs a Taibaozheng, a document only issued to Chinese citizens with household registration in Taiwan, aka âTaiwanese peopleâ. Once that document has been applied for and issued, OP can apply for a visa as the spouse of a Chinese citizen at a PRC overseas mission.
Not exactly. It comes with a number of restrictions such as expiration, single / multiple entry etc, much the same as a visa for any other nationality. Certainly not âat their libertyâ.
Last time I checked passports also expire after a few years and need to be renewed or reapplied.
Taiwanese men who have not yet completed their military service do not receive ROC passports with 10 year validity and must apply for a single exit permit each time they want to leave Taiwan.
Overseas Taiwanese require entry permits to return to Taiwan, these also come as single or multiple entry and have a validity date.
Hong Kong people, just like Taiwanese, require permits to enter Mainland China because the HK passport is for international travel only: Home Return Pemits. These come as multiple or single entry permit and also have validity limited to a few years.
The duration of validity of passports or ID cards a government issues to its citizen has no implications on nationality status. These are two distinct issues.
And just because visas, passports and ID cards have in common that one day they expire does not mean they are the same.
A Chinese citizen does not need any kind of permit to live and work in China. If Taiwanese were really citizens of the PRC like you suggest, then they would only need a permit to enter China. Once there, they could do whatever they want. Thatâs not the case.
I assume you are a US or Canadian citizen and therefore not very familiar with identification documents for citizens.
The proper Chinese name for a Taibaozheng is ć°çŁć± æ°äŸćŸć€§éžéèĄèă The proper Chinese name for a ROC ID Card is äžèŻæ°ćèș«ćèăThe proper Chinese name for a PRC Identity Card is ć± æ°èș«ä»œèăYou probably realise that in Chinese in all three cases the noun è (zheng) is used. è can be translated as permit or certificate.
According to PRC law, a Chinese citizen requires identification at all times when within China.
For persons with household registration in Mainland China, the proper identification document is a âResident Identity Cardâ. Note that âhousehold registrationâ does not mean registered address and is only available to persons of Chinese nationality.
The Resident Identity Card Law of the PRC (ć± æ°èș«ä»œèæł) states that a Chinese citizen must have a state issued ID card to prove
a) his status as a Chinese citizen
b) his identity
Article 9 of the Resident Identity Card Law of the PRC specifically states that âcompatriots from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macauâ shall also apply for state issued ID cards to prove the above.
No, Iâm not from the US or Canada. Not sure what thatâs got to do with it.
Iâm not disputing the need to have ID. But a Chinese citizen doesnât have an ID card that expires every few years. A Taiwanese citizen in China does. Big difference.
Americans and Canadians do not have national ID cards.
That is incorrect.
ID Cards in Mainland China expire after 5-20 years depending on the type of document and age of bearer.
Taiwanese in Mainland China can receive a 5 year Taibaozheng or if they decide to establish household registration receive a 10 year ID Card like any other Mainland Chinese. Hong Kong and Macau people follow the same regulations.
Again: you did not do your homework before you went to the airport. Just because it is your sentiment that your wife is a âTaiwanese citizenâ does not mean that is the case under PRC and ROC law.
So they are treated differently. As Iâve been saying all along.
Okay, so how does this work in practice , since there is a possibility I will move over to China with my family sometime.
I havenât heard of anybody doing this, so I suspect âestablishing household residenceâ or the âChinese hukouâ may not be very straightforward. Does it involve actually becoming a Chinese passport holder and renouncing Taiwan (ROC) passport? Thatâs not going to happen with us.
Iâm wondering what extra conditions are attached?